


A Corror Story

by MissDragon42



Series: The Cores of Voltron [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Because adding tags on my phone is hard, more tags to be added later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2019-01-30 23:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12664059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissDragon42/pseuds/MissDragon42
Summary: two wordsSpace Halloween





	A Corror Story

**Author's Note:**

> Late Halloween story

“Remind me what we're looking for again?” Hunk asked as he gazed upon the vast storage space in front of him.

It was a seemingly normal evening at the Castle of Lions. There were no distress signals or Galra to be found and the team had finished their daily training hours ago. It was quite boring for them actually. Luckily the Princess gave them something to do before they did something stupid to pass the time.

“Lanterns, they're clear and circular and about the size of a drone. They should be around here somewhere.” Allura said while rummaging through some shelves.

“Hey, I think I found them!” Pidge called out. “They're...out of my reach though.” She admitted embarrassedly.

“Here, I'll help you.” Abby offered before ducking between the Paladin's legs, grabbing her shins tightly before standing up so that Pidge was now sitting in her shoulders. 

“Woah! Thanks, but give me a warning next time.” 

“No problem, I used to do this all the time with my cousins. Can you reach the lanterns now?”

“Yeah just give me a tick.” Pidge reached for a large box off of the shelf before handing it to Shiro, who had been watching them in concern.

“You know that you could've just asked me to get the box, right?” He said, arching an eyebrow.

“Yeah but this is more fun.” Abby grinned.

“Alright, just be careful.” Shiro sighed.

“I feel so tall and powerful...would you mind if I stay up here for a bit longer? I want to look down on Lance and hurt his massive ego.” Pidge said smirking. 

"Sure! Come on, I can't wait to see his face!" She said before dashing off.

“So Allura, what are these lanterns for?” Shiro asked.

“I’ll explain once everyone’s in the lounge.” She said, laughing and shaking her head at the sight of Pidge and Abby.

Both Allura and Shiro made their way up to the lounge to find that everyone was there already. Rinya was in front of a holographic screen, chatting excitedly to her uncle, who kept nodding and smiling as he typed away at something. Elise and Hunk were standing quietly side by side sharing a set of headphones and bobbing their heads in unison, no doubt listening to Hamilton for the fiftieth time. Finally, Lance was glaring at Pidge (still on Abby’s shoulders), who was smiling smugly down upon her fellow paladin while Keith and Dulcet watched, trying not to laugh. 

The Altean princess cleared her throat, which caught the attention of everyone in the room.

“First of all, I’d like to thank you for helping me find the lanterns, they are very important for Altean culture.” She said.

“What’re they for?” Asked Elise.

“They’re for a very special Altean holiday!” Coran piped up excitedly “One that has been celebrated for thousands of deca-pheobs...or at least, it was celebrated.” he added sadly.

“Even though there are only three of us, I still want to keep the Altean traditions alive. I would appreciate it if all of you would join in the festivities, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Allura explained.

“Of course we’ll celebrate with you, Princess.” Shiro said, resting his hand on her shoulder. “I can tell how much this means to you.”

“So, what’s this holiday called? And what exactly are we celebrating?” Dulcet asked.

“The holiday is called The Fallen’s Day.” Rinya explained. “It’s a holiday where we celebrate those around us who have died.”

Coran nodded. “One of the very first Alteans created the holiday to honor the soldiers who died in battle, but the celebration evolved into honoring all who have passed on.”

“We light a lantern for each friend or family member that has died.” Allura reached down to grab one of the clear orbs, she then held out two fingers and tapped its top twice, immediately after that the orb began to glow a soft pink. Allura then let go of the lantern, letting it hover in place.  
“Woah! They look really cool!” Pidge said. “Hey Allura, can you pass one of the lanterns up here? I wanna see how they work.”

“Pidge, why don’t you come down from there instead?” Shiro said, much like the way a parent would to make his suggestion seem more like an order. “How long are you planning on staying like that?”

“I dunno, but I don’t plan on coming down anytime soon. This is fun! I haven’t done this in years!” She laughed.

“I’m glad you’re having fun, but Abby’s gotta be tired. Plus you can get hurt if you fall.”

“It’s ok Space Dad! I’ve done this hundreds of times, we’ll be fine! Besides, this is the only chance we midgets can get to feel tall.” Abby said, she then glanced up at Pidge. “Hey fellow small person, how’s the view?”

“Pretty freakin’ great, thanks for asking.”

“Hey, this whole lantern thing kinda reminds me of Dia de los Muertos.” Lance said while staring at the glowing ball.

“Dee...what?” Keith asked, clearly confused.

“Dia de los Muertos, it means Day of the Dead in spanish.” Abby said to Keith, she then turned to the non-human members of the team. “Day of the Dead is a holiday that some humans celebrate on Earth, it sounds a lot like your Fallen’s Day.” she explained.

“Oh? Do tell. I’m quite curious about this Earth holiday of yours.” Coran asked while fiddling with his mustache. 

“Basically Day of the Dead is where you go to the graves of your loved ones and give offerings. People believe that on that day you can talk to the spirits of the dead and pray for them.” Lance said. “Sometimes they will dress up like skeletons and dance around in a parade to celebrate. Generally it’s a lively and fun holiday, kids love it because they usually get some sweets.”

“That sounds wonderful.” Allura smiled.

“So basically what you’re saying is that this holiday is like Space Halloween?!” Hunk asked excitedly. 

“HALLOWEEN?!?!” Every human exclaimed at once, even Keith and Shiro appeared excited by the idea.

“Man I haven’t celebrated that in years.” Keith said fondly.

“Then we should celebrate! We could all dress up, and go trick or treating by going to each person and asking them for food.” Elise suggested from where she was doodling Hamilton.

“That sounds like a splendid idea! Just one question,” Coran smiled that kind of goofy uncle smile he always did, just as curious as Allura and Rinya about Earth culture. “What is Halloween?”

“I got this!” Hunk said, finding a big board to write on and starting off with writing the word Halloween. “Halloween, is an annual holiday that is celebrated on the day of October thirty-first, I’m not sure how that translates to your guys’ calendar but that’s not important. Anyways, it started because of an old Celtic festival, where people would light bonfires and wear costumes to scare away the ghosts and evil spirits.” Hunk then began to draw stick figures around a fire with ghosts running away from them.

“Question! Why did they do that? It sounds rather ridiculous. Also, why only on do this on the day of October thirty-first?” Coran asked, his hand in the air like a student in class.

“That was because they believed that on that day, the barrier between the living and the dead was the weakest, so that was when evil spirits and demons would cross over to the world of the living to torment people. Their solution for that was to dress up in costumes so that the spirits wouldn’t recognize them and leave them alone. The Bonfire was for driving away darkness, which they believed would ward off evil too.” The yellow paladin then began to doodle a person in a ghost costume standing next to a ghost.

“I see.” Allura murmured, listening intently to what Hunk was saying.

“Back then it was called ‘All Hallows Eve’, over time the name changed to Halloween and the holiday changed from one to scare off evil spirits, and into one of fun activities such as trick-or-treating and carving jack-o-lanterns. It’s also celebrated to welcome the autumn season with gatherings, costumes, and sweet treats.” Hunk concluded his explanation by drawing candies, jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treaters. “Any questions?”

“What is a jack-o-lantern?” Rinya asked, as she sat herself down on the couch.

“You remember what a pumpkin is, right?”

“Yeah, the round orange things you can make into a pie.”

“Well a jack-o-lantern is where you take one of those, cut the top off, hollow it out, and carve a face onto one side. When you put a candle inside it lights up.”

“Interesting.” Coran hummed.

“Guys, I’m glad you’re all getting excited about this.” said Shiro, “But remember, this isn’t about us, this is about the Alteans. As much as I would love to celebrate Halloween, we need to remember that we’re doing this for Allura, Coran and Rinya. We can’t be selfish and push aside their holiday for ours. We can celebrate another time.”

“It’s alright Shiro.” Allura smiled as she gently put her hand on his arm. “It would be unfair of me to ask you to participate in our festivities without joining in on yours. We can celebrate this ‘Halloween’ holiday of yours.”

“It’s not like we can really celebrate Fallen’s Day, not how we used to anyways.” Rinya said sadly.

“What do you mean by that?” Dulcet asked. 

“There are ceremonies and traditions that we practiced back home that need certain materials that we don’t have here. Not to mention the fact that the ingredients used to make traditional Fallen’s Day food was probably wiped out with Altea. Without those things, we can’t honor the dead properly.”

“I’m sure everyone would understand why we aren’t honoring them the way we used to.” Coran said, placing his hand on his niece’s head. “We’ll find a new way to remember them, one that’s better than before. In the meantime, let’s celebrate Halloween, it sounds like fun!”

“Yeah!” Rinya smiled and nodded.

“Guys! I just got an idea! What if some of us built a haunted house for the others to go through?!” Keith exclaimed with excitement, he was grinning like a child, something that the rest of the team wasn’t quite used to.

“That’s a great idea!” Pidge beamed. “I saw a ton of cool stuff we could use to make it in the storage area. And I can reprogram the gladiators too!”  
“Count me in.” Shiro grinned.

“I guess I can help? But you guys are gonna have to tell me what to do, I have no idea what a ‘haunted house’ is.” Rinya said.

“Perfect! The rest of us can stay here and tell ghost stories and teach the aliens more about our awesome holiday!” Lance said.

“Alright let’s do this! Onwards noble steed! To the training deck!” Pidge commanded.

“To victory!” Abby joined the chant.

“CHAAAAAARRRRRGGGGEEEE!!!!!” The two of them let out a fearsome battle cry as Abby dashed out of the room with Pidge bouncing on her shoulders, the sound of their teammates’ laughter becoming distant as they ran down the hallway.

***  
It took them a few hours but eventually Keith, Shiro, Rinya and Pidge managed to make a haunted house. They pulled out all the stops, using the gladiators as fake monsters, holographic ghosts, an assortment of makeshift fog machines, and a playlist of the spookiest of music, provided by Elise. Now the only thing left in their haunted house was victims.

“Alright, who wants to go first?” Shiro asked, grinning mischievously. 

“Um...I guess I’ll go…” Hunk said nervously.

“Don’t worry bud, I know how much you don’t like these kind of things. I can go with you if you want.” Lance offered. 

“Great! Ok, places everyone!” Shiro hollered, but just before he was about to enter the haunted house, Elise stopped him.

“Wait! I just remembered! Before you go in I have something for you guys!” She said before running off. The core returned a few minutes later with a bunch of small plastic sticks in her hand.

“Are those...glow sticks?” Keith asked.

“Glow stick bracelets to be exact.” Elise grinned and cracked them all at once and shook them vigorously and soon the sticks began to glow.

“Elise, why the quiznak do you have glowsticks?” Shiro asked.

“Because of plot convenience. Here’s yours, Shiro.” She said while passing him a purple glow stick.

“You do realize I have a glowing purple hand, right?”

“Shut up and put the bracelet on, Shiro.” Pidge chided as she slipped her new green glowing bracelet on.

“Thank you Elise, I shall cherish this gift you have presented me.” Allura smiled as she stared at her pink glow stick.

“Oh, the glow only lasts for a few hours, they’re really cheap. They’re just for fun.” Hunk explained as he put a yellow on one.

Eventually everyone got a glow stick bracelet, Abby got a yellow bracelet while Dulcet got a blue one, Keith and Rinya were red and Coran matched Shiro with his purple bracelet. Elise picked out a green bracelet for herself before handing the rest to Lance, who insisted that he wanted to wear as many as possible. He wore so many it looked like he just got back from the biggest rave in the galaxy.

“All right, now we’re ready!” The blue paladin posed dramatically to show off his new accessories.

“Then let’s do this!” Pidge said before dashing into the haunted house. After a few minutes of prep, the haunted house ‘staff’ were ready for their first customers.

“Don’t worry Hunk, I’ll be there every step of the way. You don’t have to be scared. ” Lance puffed out his chest before linking arms with a nervous Hunk. 

Then, the two of them entered the haunted house. Those who were waiting outside had no clue what was happening, all they could hear was some spooky music along with the occasional scream, though it was hard to tell who they belonged to.

About ten minutes later, the two paladins emerged at the exit on the other side of the room. Hunk had Lance in his arms Scooby and Shaggy style. The blue paladin was clutching on to his friend for dear life with his hairs standing on end, Hunk on the other hand looked startled but otherwise ok.

“Woah, is he ok? Was...was it really that scary?” Abby asked in concern. 

“I’m gonna kill that freaking mullet when he gets out of his dark emo corner.” Lance muttered before his friend placed him on the ground.

“He’s fine.” Dulcet sighed exasperatedly.

“I thought you went with Hunk to comfort him, not the other way around! What happened to the brave and fearless Lance?” Allura said mockingly.

“I do believe it is my turn next. Wish me luck!” Coran said cheerfully before strolling through the entrance. 

As far as everyone could tell, the elder Altean had made it through most of it without any trouble, any sounds of fright he might of made were covered up by the music and sound effects. But right at the very end, a loud high pitch shriek rang throughout the castle. It was the girliest scream anyone had ever heard. After that there was a pause before an extremely embarrased Coran walked out of the haunted house.

“Ehem...that was quite an...experience.” He said red-faced, it took everything they had not to burst out laughing. “Right! Who’s next?”

“I’ll go!” Abby offered cheerfully.

“Wow, really? I didn’t think you’d be the kind of person to like haunted houses.” Lance said.

“No, I actually don’t like them that much, but I want to get this over with” She said before taking a deep breath and stepping inside. 

Abby hated haunted houses for a very specific reason, she didn’t mind the creepy atmosphere and she wasn’t afraid of the dark since she could see in it just fine, she didn’t mind the spooky props or the effects, in fact she kinda liked them, it made her appreciate just how much work everyone put into this. No, that stuff didn’t bother her. It was the freaking jump scares that got her everytime. 

Two minutes in the haunted house nothing too bad had happened yet, just some creepy things like spiders and ghosts. But of course, things didn’t stay that way. Almost all at once, the ‘room’ she was in began to feel colder, and the fog machine was kicked into high gear. Abby froze in place.

“Oh fuck me.” She whimpered. Suddenly, an ice cold hand grabbed her shoulder, Abby screamed and instincts took over. She turned her head away from the figure and blindly punched in the direction of her supposed attacker, realizing too late that she would probably be punching a gladiator Pidge reprogrammed. But instead of hitting solid metal, he knuckles came into contact with something slightly softer but just as firm. She looked back in surprise, in the dim lighting of the haunted house she could see that she had in fact punched something, but it wasn’t a robot, it was Shiro. The man let out a grunt of pain as he doubled over, clutching his stomach.

“Holy...how strong are you?” He wheezed, the wind knocked out of him.

“Oh god, Shiro! I’m so sorry! Are you ok?!” Abby said in a panic, trying to comfort him in anyway she could. 

“I’ll be...fine. Just need a...rest.” His voice sounded strained as he leaned against a wall, still clutching his stomach.

“Are...are you sure?”

“Yeah, see?” Shiro tried to walk away from the wall he was leaning on, but he let out a small gasp in pain before returning to his original position.

“On second thought...I think I need a healing pod.” He managed to say, though Abby could tell that doing so was causing him pain.

“Oh god Shiro I’m so sorry! KEITH!! KEITH GET OVER HERE!!” Abby yelled at the top of her lungs. She heard a small shuffle before a Keith-shaped silhouette emerged.

“Abby, if you didn’t want to go you could’ve- WHAT THE HELL?!” Keith rushed over next to Shiro, who was now curled up in a ball on the floor.

“What happened?!”

“I-I got scared and I punched him I’m sorry! It was an accident!” Abby said with tears in her eyes.

“How..? No, doesn’t matter. Help get him to the healing pods.” 

Keith said as he draped Shiro’s Arm across his shoulder, becoming a crutch. Abby did the same for his other arm and together they half dragged, half lead shiro out of the haunted house.

***  
“So let me get this straight.” Dulcet said. “You’re telling us that Abby, the soft round incredibly non-violent and untrained Abby, managed to punch Shiro hard enough to fracture and maybe even break his rib?”

“That is correct, she may have even damaged more than one.” Coran nodded, looking at the screen of the healing pod Shiro was in. 

“How the heck is that possible? I mean no offense but Shiro is a seriously buff guy and like Dulcet said, Abby is just...Abby” Hunk said.

“It’s possible if you hit the right spot, you either need training or a lot of brute force and some luck. My guess is that it’s the latter.” Pidge replied.

“Geez girl, how strong are you?!” Lance asked, a mixture of awe and fear in his voice.

“I dunno! It was an accident! I didn’t mean to hurt him!” The core whimpered.

“It’s ok, we don’t blame you, everyone knows you would never hurt anyone on purpose!” Rinya said soothingly. 

“I guess, but now we can’t celebrate Halloween and Fallen’s Day. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry my girl! The night is still young, we still have lots of time to do that, Shiro should be out of the pod any minute now, good as new” Coran said while smiling reassuringly.

Just as he said that, the healing pod let out a loud hiss before Shiro stumbled out. 

“Ah! Right on time!” Coran said cheerily. “Good to see you back on your feet again! How do you feel?”

“A lot better, thanks.” Shiro replied before looking around the room. “What happened while I was out?”

“Not much.” Elise shrugged. “Just freaked out about you being hurt.”

“Yeah, you really had us worried there.” Hunk nodded.

“Thanks guys.” Shiro smiled, then his expression changed as if he just remembered something. “Where’s Abby?”

 

Everyone turned around to find the yellow core keeping her distance, she looked extremely nervous and a bit guilty.

“Um...hey.” She mumbled. “I’m really, really sorry.”

Without another word, Shiro walked right up to Abby, she flinched but didn’t look him in the eye. Then, he gently patted her head. The core looked up at her leader in surprise, and in return he flashed her a small smile.

“I’m sorry I scared you. Are you ok?”

Abby blinked, surprised by the question, but then she snapped, slightly annoyed. “Why are you apologizing?! I hurt you! You should be angry! And am I ok?! I’m the one who should be asking you that!”

Shiro laughed. “I’m ok, and I’m not angry. It’s kinda my fault for scaring you.”

“That’s the whole point of a haunted house you dingus.” Pidge said. The awkward tension evaporated immediately as laughter filled the room. 

“Hey, why don’t you make it up to Shiro by bringing out some of your food stash for us?” Lance suggested.

“Don’t use Shiro as an excuse, you just want some candy.” Abby said, pretending to be mad.

“True, but also because all this talk of Halloween has given me a craving.” The blue paladin replied.

Abby rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll get some out. But don’t you dare do anything fun without me!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

They celebrated all night until the metaphorical dawn broke,combining many holidays into a joyous celebration as they laughed and danced and told stories of those who have passed. Their holidays may have come from different cultures that were centuries and light years apart, but the message was the same. The dead live on through memory, as longs as someone is remembered, no one is truly gone forever. Voltron and these defenders of the universe shall live on even thousands of years in the future, for their battles shall be remembered for all eternity.


End file.
